Best of
Society

2007

Being Plumville


Savannah J. Frierson - 2007
    You're given them from birth, and anything that could possibly make you break them is removed from your life-even if it's your best friend. Such is the case for Benjamin Drummond and Coralee Simmons, two best friends separated during childhood because Benjamin is white, Coralee is black, and relationships between the two races are unspoken in its taboo. However, fifteen years later during the turbulent 1960s, Benjamin and Coralee are reunited, and despite their upbringing, neither are able to deny what they had in their innocent youth, nor suppress the desire to rekindle it-maybe even into something more.The reunion forces the pair and those around them to examine the consequences of following the status quo versus following their hearts. Is friendship too high a price to pay to be Plumville? Is love? Will Benjamin and Coralee become who Plumville raised them to be, or who they were born to be?

The Ascent of Humanity


Charles Eisenstein - 2007
    Eisenstein traces all of the converging crises of our age to a common source, which he calls Separation. It is the ideology of the discrete and separate self that has generated these crises; therefore, he argues, nothing less than a "revolution in human beingness" will be sufficient to transform our relationship to each other and the planet. And this revolution is underway already. In all realms of human endeavor, an Age of Reunion is emerging out of the birth-pangs of a planet in crisis. The range and depth of Eisenstein's thesis is breath-taking. Encompassing science, religion, spirituality, technology, economics, medicine, education, and more, he details a vast paradigm shift reflecting a more fundamental shift in the human sense of self. Even in this dark hour, he says, a more beautiful world is possible -- but not through the extension of millennia-old methods of management and control. The convergence of crises is revealing the final bankruptcy of those methods. Soon, he says, we will abandon the Babelian effort to build a tower to Heaven, as we realize that the sky is all around us already. Then, we will turn our efforts to creating a new kind of civilization, a conscious civilization designed for beauty rather than height.

Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul


Edward Humes - 2007
    Monkey Girl takes you behind the scenes of the recent war on evolution in Dover, Pennsylvania, the epic court case on teaching "intelligent design" it spawned, and the national struggle over what Americans believe about human origins.Told from the perspectives of all sides of the battle, Monkey Girl is about what happens when science and religion collide.

Contrary Notions: The Michael Parenti Reader


Michael Parenti - 2007
    Parenti’s work has enlightened and enlivened readers for many years, covering a wide range of subjects.Here is a rich selection of his most lucid and penetrating writings on real history, political life, empire, wealth, class power, technology, culture, ideology, media, environment, sex, and ethnicity. Also included are a few choice selections drawn from his own life experiences and political awakening. Parenti goes where few political observers dare to tread. Time and again he takes the extra step beyond the parameters of permissible opinion, and time and again he succeeds in carrying the reader with him.The selections herein, that are reprinted from previously published works, have been revised and updated. Other offerings appear here for the very first time."Radical in the true sense of the word, [Parenti] digs at the roots which...sustain our public consciousness."—Los Angeles Times Book Review"Prominent leftist public intellectual Parenti has built a reputation for himself as a trenchant, yet engaging and accessible, critic of capitalism, imperialism, and other forms of exploitation and violence and this diverse collection of his writings will not disappoint his fans (nor, probably, convince his detractors). Over the course of the collection he takes on the corporate media, intellectual repression in academia, the stolen presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 (not that he's a fan of Al Gore or John Kerry), right wing judicial activism, free-market orthodoxies and mythologies, racism, sexism, homophobia, postmodern attacks on Marxism, the distortions of dominant history, ill-informed demonizations of the Venezuelan political process, his own life, and many other topics."—Book News, Inc."A prolific author, a charismatic speaker, and a regular guest on radio and television talk shows, Parenti communicates his message in an accessible, provocative, and historically informed style that is unrivaled among fellow progressive activists and thinkers."—Aurora OnlineMichael Parenti is a critically acclaimed author and an extraordinary public speaker. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University and has taught at a number of colleges and universities, in the United States and abroad. He is the author of twenty books, including Superpariotism , The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Inventing Reality, and Democracy for the Few.

A Young People's History of the United States, Volume 2: Class Struggle to the War On Terror


Howard Zinn - 2007
    A Young People's History of the United States is also a companion volume to The People Speak, the film adapted from A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States.Beginning with a look at Christopher Columbus’s arrival through the eyes of the Arawak Indians, then leading the reader through the struggles for workers’ rights, women’s rights, and civil rights during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and ending with the current protests against continued American imperialism, Zinn in the volumes of A Young People’s History of the United States presents a radical new way of understanding America’s history. In so doing, he reminds readers that America’s true greatness is shaped by our dissident voices, not our military generals.

A Winter Night (Premchand's Famous Stories Book 1)


Munshi Premchand - 2007
    Get me the money I had kept with you, will give it to him. At least we will live in peace.” Munni was sweeping the floor, she turned and replied, “We have just three rupees. JUST THREE RUPEES.” Her anger was evident in her tone, “We have kept it to buy a blanket for the upcoming winters. How will we survive these brutal wintry nights, if we give our savings to him? Tell him, we will pay him when we sell our crop. We don’t have anything for him right now!” Halku stood there not knowing what to do. He tried to put his thoughts in order, so as to take a decision. Winter season was at its peak and without a blanket there was no way he could sleep out in the open, guarding his fields all through the night. But he knew that refusing the money monger would be even worse. He thought, it was better to die in the open field under the dark sky than listening to the abuses being hurled at him. Clear in his mind now, he dragged his hefty self towards Munni and with a fake smile said, “Come on, Munni. Give it to me. At least it will take the moneylender off my neck. I will think of something and get the blanket.” But Munni was in no mood to listen to his fake promises. She moved away from him and said, “Am fed up of you and your assurances. Tell me, what you are going to do about the blanket. Who will give it to you for free? Who knows, how fierce it’s gonna be for us? We survived the last time, but this time it will kill us.” She paused for a second, and continued, “Why don’t you leave farming? Are we going to live like this forever? We work our asses out to grow these bloody crops but what happens when the time for harvest comes? These morons line up outside our house and take away all that we have. For God’s sake, do something else. Earn some money and do whatever you want to of it. I am not going to give even a damn penny to them.”

Designing The Future


Jacque Fresco - 2007
    

An Undivided Life: Seeking Wholeness in Ourselves, Our Work, and Our World


Parker J. Palmer - 2007
    Perhaps no one has explored this topic more deeply than bestselling author and distinguished educator Parker J. Palmer.Now you can experience his inspiring and transformative teachings on An Undivided Life. Infused with compassionate intelligence, this landmark program will encourage and deepen your reflections about what it means to live "a life divided no more."In this five-hour journey, Palmer shares some of his most personal lessons and profound insights gained from a lifetime of faithful inquiry. Join him for an open and honest conversation that explores:The power of paradox to help us find meaning in the darkness and light of life's experiencesHow to live creatively in "the tragic gap"--the space between hard realities and what we know to be possible"Hearing each other into speech"--a soul-honoring way of deepening our relationshipsHow understanding our inner dynamics can help us make choices that are life-giving for ourselves and others"My experience--from the depths of depression to the heights of joy--has taught me that the path toward wholeness takes patience and passion," teaches Parker Palmer. With An Undivided Life, you will receive his timeless wisdom and guidance to help you discern, trust, and follow your authentic self at home, in your work, and in the world.Course objectives: Describe what it means to live an undivided lifeDefine "paradox"Discern between a true community and a false communityDiscuss what the "true self" is

What's Left?


Nick Cohen - 2007
    He comes from the Left. When he was a child, his mother would search supermarket shelves for politically reputable citrus fruit, and despair. Aged 13, when he learned his kind and thoughtful English teacher voted Conservative, he nearly fell off his chair: 'To be good, you had to be on the Left.' Today he's no less confused. When he looks around him, in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, he sees a community of Left-leaning liberals standing on their heads. Why do apologies for a militant Islam standing for everything the liberal-Left is against come from a section of it? After the US/UK wars in Bosnia and Kosovo against Milosevic's ethnic cleansers, why were some on the Left denying the existence of Serb concentration camps? Why is Palestine a cause for the liberal-Left, but not, for instance, China, the Sudan, Zimbabwe or North Korea? Why can't those who say they support the Palestinian cause tell you what type of Palestine they'd like to see? After the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington DC, why were you as likely to read that a conspiracy of Jews controlled US or UK foreign policy in a liberal literary journal as in a neo-Nazi rag? It's easy to know what the Left is fighting against--the evils of Bush and corporations--but what and who are they fighting for? As he tours the follies of the Left, he asks us to reconsider what it means to be liberal today. With the angry satire of Swift, he reclaims the values of democracy and solidarity that united the movement against fascism, asking: What's Left?.

Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq


Dahr Jamail - 2007
    If what he has seen could be conveyed to all Americans, this ugly war in Iraq would quickly come to an end. A superb journalist.”—Howard ZinnWe walk slowly under the scorching sun along dusty rows of humble headstones. She continues reading them aloud to me, “Old man wearing jacket with dishdasha, near industrial center. He has a key in his hand.” Many of the bodies were buried before they could be identified. Tears welling up in my eyes she quietly reads, “Man wearing red track suit.” She points to another row, “Three women killed in car leaving city by American missile.”As the occupation of Iraq unravels, the demand for independent reporting is growing. Since 2003, unembedded journalist Dahr Jamail has filed indispensable reports from Iraq that have made him this generation’s chronicler of the unfolding disaster there. In these collected dispatches, Jamail presents never-before-published details of the siege of Fallujah and examines the origins of the Iraqi insurgency.Dahr Jamail makes frequent visits to Iraq and has published his accounts in newspapers and magazines worldwide. He has regularly appeared on Democracy Now!, as well as the BBC, Pacifica Radio, and numerous other networks.

Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance


John Berger - 2007
    John Berger occupies a unique position in the international cultural landscape: artist, filmmaker, poet, philosopher, novelist, and essayist, he is also a deeply thoughtful political activist. In Hold Everything Dear, his artistry and activism meld in an attempt to make sense of the current state of our world. Berger analyzes the nature of terrorism and the profound despair that gives rise to it. He writes about the homelessness of millions who have been forced by poverty and war to live as refugees. He discusses Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Serbia, Bosnia, China, Indonesia-anyplace where people are deprived of the most basic of freedoms. Berger powerfully acknowledges the depth of suffering around the world and suggests actions that might finally help bring it to an end.From the Trade Paperback edition.

You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism


Brad Hirschfield - 2007
    As a young man in the early 1980s, he left his family’s upscale North Shore Chicago neighborhood for the West Bank city of Hebron, where he joined a group of settlers who were committed to reconstituting the Jewish state within its biblical borders. He carried a gun and, on one occasion, used it. He still doesn’t know if his bullets found their mark.Now, Hirschfield has renounced all such rigid delineations of people into categories of totally right and totally wrong, entirely good and entirely evil. He seeks to build bridges among people of different faiths—and those with no faith at all. He is devoted to teaching inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, and delivering a message of acceptance—not as feel-good pabulum but as forceful and indispensable antidotes to the blind passions and willful ignorance that threaten us all.Grounded in biblical scholarship and interwoven with personal stories, You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right provides a pragmatic path to peace, understanding, and hope that appeals to the common wisdom of all religions. Pointing the way through the continuum of conflict, Hirschfield addresses:• the ways faith has many faces• how justice can coexist with forgiveness and mercy• how unity does not necessitate uniformity• the ways we can learn to disagree without disconnectingThough conflict is an inevitable part of life—a function of being connected to one another—Hirschfield is a voice of peace and reconciliation, showing us that conflict is also an opportunity to learn and grow and often to grow closer.

Invading the Sacred: An Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America


Krishnan Ramaswamy - 2007
    However, a powerful counterforce within the American Academy is systematically undermining core icons and ideals of Indic Culture and thought. For instance, scholars of this counterforce have disparaged the Bhagavad Gita as “a dishonest book”; declared Ganesha’s trunk a “limp phallus”; classified Devi as the “mother with a penis” and Shiva as “a notorious womanizer” who incites violence in India; pronounced Sri Ramakrishna a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda; condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than white women; and interpreted the bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the “ha” in sacred mantras as a woman’s sound during orgasm.Are these isolated instances of ignorance or links in an institutionalized pattern of bias driven by certain civilizational worldviews?Are these academic pronouncements based on evidence, and how carefully is this evidence cross-examined? How do these images of India and Indians created in the American Academy influence public perceptions through the media, the education system, policymakers and popular culture?Adopting a politically impartial stance, this book, the product of an intensive multi-year research project, uncovers the invisible networks behind this Hinduphobia, narrates the Indian Diaspora’s challenges to such scholarship, and documents how those who dared to speak up have been branded as “dangerous”. The book hopes to provoke serious debate. For example:How do Hinduphobic works resemble earlier American literature depicting non-whites as dangerous savages needing to be civilized by the West?Are India’s internal social problems going to be managed by foreign interventions in the name of human rights?How do power imbalances and systemic biases affect the objectivity and quality of scholarship?What are the rights of practitioner-experts in “talking back” to academicians?What is the role of India’s intellectuals, policymakers and universities in fashioning an authentic and enduring response?

Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System


Douglas S. Massey - 2007
    While other developed countries face similar challenges from globalization and technological change, none rivals America’s singularly poor record for equitably distributing the benefits and burdens of recent economic shifts. In Categorically Unequal, Douglas Massey weaves together history, political economy, and even neuropsychology to provide a comprehensive explanation of how America’s culture and political system perpetuates inequalities between different segments of the population.Categorically Unequal is striking both for its theoretical originality and for the breadth of topics it covers. Massey argues that social inequalities arise from the universal human tendency to place others into social categories. In America, ethnic minorities, women, and the poor have consistently been the targets of stereotyping, and as a result, they have been exploited and discriminated against throughout the nation’s history. African-Americans continue to face discrimination in markets for jobs, housing, and credit. Meanwhile, the militarization of the US-Mexican border has discouraged Mexican migrants from leaving the United States, creating a pool of exploitable workers who lack the legal rights of citizens. Massey also shows that women’s advances in the labor market have been concentrated among the affluent and well-educated, while low-skilled female workers have been relegated to occupations that offer few chances for earnings mobility. At the same time, as the wages of low-income men have fallen, more working-class women are remaining unmarried and raising children on their own. Even as minorities and women continue to face these obstacles, the progressive legacy of the New Deal has come under frontal assault. The government has passed anti-union legislation, made taxes more regressive, allowed the real value of the federal minimum wage to decline, and drastically cut social welfare spending. As a result, the income gap between the richest and poorest has dramatically widened since 1980. Massey attributes these anti-poor policies in part to the increasing segregation of neighborhoods by income, which has insulated the affluent from the social consequences of poverty, and to the disenfranchisement of the poor, as the population of immigrants, prisoners, and ex-felons swells.America’s unrivaled disparities are not simply the inevitable result of globalization and technological change. As Massey shows, privileged groups have systematically exploited and excluded many of their fellow Americans. By delving into the root causes of inequality in America, Categorically Unequal provides a compelling argument for the creation of a more equitable society. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation's Centennial Series

Criminology


Tim Newburn - 2007
    It provides the basis of study for undergraduate students, new postgraduate students, and those who need a foundation knowledge of criminology for other relevant courses including access and foundation degree courses in colleges and universities, courses in law, probation, policing, criminal and forensic investigation and on other aspects of crime and the criminal justice system. Key points include:fully comprehensive covering all major areas of criminology and criminal justice as well as guidance on disseration/long-essay writing authoritative written by a leading criminologist and experienced teacher broad approach moves beyond sociological approaches to crime and criminal justice to take account of the contribution of other disciplines up-to-date informed by QAA subject benchmarks for the teaching of criminology extensively illustrated with photographs, charts, tables and diagrams and a range of questions for students to discuss and debate additional website support for students and teachers."

A Promise of Hope


Autumn Stringam - 2007
    Autumn, at 22, was psychotic and in in a psychiatric hospital on suicide watch; Joseph, at 15, was prone to violent episodes so terrifying the family feared for their lives. But after they began taking a nutritional supplement developed by their father and based, incredibly, on a formula given to aggressive hogs--Autumn's and Joseph's symptoms disappeared. Today they both lead normal, productive lives.A Promise of Hope is the personal story of Autumn Stringam's flight from madness to wellness, all due to the vitamin and mineral supplement that works on the premise that some forms of mental illness are caused by nutritional deficiencies. An honest book that exposes the hidden torment of bipolar disorder, it is the story of a daughter seeking to forgive her mother. A Promise of Hope is also an astonishing scientific account that moves from a kitchen table in Alberta to the treatment offices of a distinguished Harvard pshyciatrist and into the labs of a skeptical medial establishment. It climaxes in a bitter--but eventually triumphant--battles with Health Canada, in which the tiny supplement company is exonerated and praised for saving the lives of thousands of Canadians previously thought lost to mental illness. More than anything, A Promise of Hope is a powerful story and a call for a new understanding of the causes of mental illness and its treatments.

Gentrification


Loretta Lees - 2007
    The gentrification of urban areas has accelerated across the globe to become a central engine of urban development, and it is a topic that has attracted a great deal of interest in both academia and the popular press. Gentrification presents major theoretical ideas and concepts with case studies, and summaries of the ideas in the book as well as offering ideas for future research.

The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society


Jonathan Sacks - 2007
    He envisions a responsibility-based rather than rights-based model of citizenship that connects the ideas of giving and belonging. We should see society as "the home we build together", bringing the distinctive gifts of different groups to the common good. Sacks warns of the hazards free and open societies face in the 21st century, and offers an unusual religious defence of liberal democracy and the nation state.This logical sequel to Sacks' award-winning The Dignity of Difference (Continuum), The Home We Build Together makes a compelling case for "integrated diversity" within a framework of shared political values.

Quadragesimo Anno: On Reconstructing the Social Order


Pope Pius XI - 2007
    Contains an introduction by Bishop Richard N. Williamson and four color graphs and charts by Bishop Williamson to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of the text. An invaluable study guide.Written partially in response to the Great Depression, the Holy Father sets forth the principles of Catholic social order. This includes the right of a worker to a just wage, the proper balance of capital and labor, the principle of subsidiarity, the twin dangers of economic individualism and collectivism, the inherent problems of Socialism, the proper distribution of productive property and the restoration of the guilds."The present state of affairs...clearly indicates the way in which We ought to proceed. For We are now confronted, as more than once before in the history of the Church, with a world that in large part has almost fallen back into paganism. That these whole classes of men may be brought back to Christ Whom they have denied, we must recruit and train from among them, themselves, auxiliary soldiers of the Church who know them well and their minds and wishes, and can reach their hearts with a tender brotherly love. The first and immediate apostles to the workers ought to be workers; the apostles to those who follow industry and trade ought to be from among them themselves."57pp, softcover, color charts.

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)


David Cay Johnston - 2007
    From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches—but of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.Johnston’s many revelations include:• How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world.• How homeowners? title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly.• How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses.• How Paris Hilton’s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children.• How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds.In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent.With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives—and shows us how we can finally make things better.

They Take Our Jobs!: And 20 Other Myths about Immigration


Aviva Chomsky - 2007
    Chomsky dismantles twenty of the most common assumptions and beliefs underlying statements like "I'm not against immigration, only illegal immigration" and challenges the misinformation in clear, straightforward prose.In exposing the myths that underlie today's debate, Chomsky illustrates how the parameters and presumptions of the debate distort how we think—and have been thinking—about immigration. She observes that race, ethnicity, and gender were historically used as reasons to exclude portions of the population from access to rights. Today, Chomsky argues, the dividing line is citizenship. Although resentment against immigrants and attempts to further marginalize them are still apparent today, the notion that non-citizens, too, are created equal is virtually absent from the public sphere. Engaging and fresh, this book will challenge common assumptions about immigrants, immigration, and U.S. history.

The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy: And How to End It


David Icke - 2007
    His latest book is an extraordinary and unique compilation of his 20 years of research in more than 40 countries, as he connects the dots between apparently unconnected people, events and subjects to show how everything fits together -- and to what end. The interest all over the world in David Icke's work is simply exploding and, with this book, the world's most controversial man is destinated to reach a still greater audience.

Life in a Hospice: Reflections on caring for the dying


Ann Richardson - 2007
    None of us likes to think about what our last days will be like. But if we do think about them at all, we want them to be full of peace and tranquillity, with the chance to say proper goodbyes to those we love. Life in a Hospice takes you behind the scenes in end-of-life care, where you will see the enormous efforts of nurses, doctors, chaplains and others - even a thoughtful cook - to provide the calm that we all hope for. Perhaps you are looking for end-of-life care for someone you love. Perhaps you are wondering if this is the job for you. Or you just feel like being inspired by humanity at its best. This book will be for you. HIGHLY COMMENDED by the British Medical Association, 2008 "The simple reflections on complex areas of care resonate long after you have finished reading the book." Cancer Nursing Forum Newsletter, Royal College of Nursing "An easy-to-read book, which will surprise many readers with its lightness of touch, humanity and refreshing tone. I would recommend it to anyone who has worries about their own or a relative’s care at the end of life." Dr Nansi-Wynne Evans, GP, BMA Medical Book Competition

On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century


Sherrilyn A. Ifill - 2007
    While the lynchings were devastating, the little-known contemporary consequences, such as the marginalization of political and economic development for blacks, are equally pernicious. Ifill traces the lingering effects of two lynchings in Maryland to illustrate how ubiquitous this history is, and she issues a clarion call for the many American communities with histories of racial violence to be proactive in facing this legacy. Ifill provides concrete ideas for communities. On the Courthouse Lawn is a much-needed roadmap to help communities finally confront lynching's long shadow by embracing pragmatic reconciliation and reparation efforts.

The Socialist Phenomenon: A Historical Survey of Socialist Policies and Ideals


Igor Shafarevich - 2007
    The Socialist Phenomenon is a powerful survey  of socialism  and socialist thought from ancient times to the present day. Most assume that socialism and communism began with the writings of Karl Marx, but through his book Shafarevich lays out with amazing clarity that socialism is an evil that has been present in man’s thoughts and actions for thousands of years. In the age of “democratic socialism” and other modern iterations, The Socialist Phenomenon reminds us of the truth about socialism and the dangers that come when societies embrace socialist policies and ideals.

Telling About Society


Howard S. Becker - 2007
    The work has neither a beginning nor an end. Nor does it contain any analysis. But it nonetheless reveals profound truths about French society during the 1940s and 50s. Taking Perec’s book as its cue, Telling About Society explores the unconventional ways we communicate what we know about society to others. The third in distinguished teacher Howard Becker’s best-selling series of writing guides for social scientists, the book explores the many ways knowledge about society can be shared and interpreted through different forms of telling—fiction, films, photographs, maps, even mathematical models—many of which remain outside the boundaries of conventional social science. Eight case studies, including the photographs of Walker Evans, the plays of George Bernard Shaw, the novels of Jane Austen and Italo Calvino, and the sociology of Erving Goffman, provide convincing support for Becker’s argument: that every way of telling about society is perfect—for some purpose. The trick is, as Becker notes, to discover what purpose is served by doing it this way rather than that. With Becker’s trademark humor and eminently practical advice, Telling About Society is an ideal guide for social scientists in all fields, for artists interested in saying something about society, and for anyone interested in communicating knowledge in unconventional ways.

Life: America the Beautiful: A Photographic Journey, Coast to Coast-and Beyond


LIFE - 2007
    As a special bonus, this edition includes a print of one of Ansel Adams finest scenic photos suitable for framing.Hachette Book Group USA

Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America


Joseph Barndt - 2007
    He has now written a replacement volume - powerful, personal, and practical - that reframes the whole issue for the new context of the twenty-first century.With great clarity Barndt traces the history of racism, especially in white America, revealing its various personal, institutional, and cultural forms. Without demonizing anyone or any race, he offers specific, positive ways in which people in all walks, including churches, can work to bring racism to an end.He includes the newest data on continuing conditions of people of color, including their progress relative to the minimal standards of equality in housing, income and wealth, education, and health. He discusses current dimensions of race as they appear in controversies over 9/11, New Orleans, and undocumented workers. Includes analytical charts, definitions, bibliography, and exercises for readers.

Mathematical Models of Social Evolution: A Guide for the Perplexed


Richard McElreath - 2007
    But students in these disciplines often seriously lack the tools to understand them. A primer on behavioral modeling that includes both mathematics and evolutionary theory, Mathematical Models of Social Evolution aims to make the student and professional researcher in biology and the social sciences fully conversant in the language of the field.Teaching biological concepts from which models can be developed, Richard McElreath and Robert Boyd introduce readers to many of the typical mathematical tools that are used to analyze evolutionary models and end each chapter with a set of problems that draw upon these techniques. Mathematical Models of Social Evolution equips behaviorists and evolutionary biologists with the mathematical knowledge to truly understand the models on which their research depends. Ultimately, McElreath and Boyd’s goal is to impart the fundamental concepts that underlie modern biological understandings of the evolution of behavior so that readers will be able to more fully appreciate journal articles and scientific literature, and start building models of their own.

Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems


Vaclav Smil - 2007
    Vaclav Smil uses fundamental unifying metrics (most notably for power density and energy intensity) to provide an integrated framework for analyzing all segments of energetics (the study of energy flows and their transformations). The book explores not only planetary energetics (such as solar radiation and geomorphic processes) and bioenergetics (photosynthesis, for example) but also human energetics (such as metabolism and thermoregulation), tracing them from hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies through modern-day industrial civilization. Included are chapters on heterotrophic conversions, traditional agriculture, preindustrial complexification, fossil fuels, fossil-fueled civilization, the energetics of food, and the implications of energetics for the environment. The book concludes with an examination of general patterns, trends, and socioeconomic considerations of energy use today, looking at correlations between energy and value, energy and the economy, energy and quality of life, and energy futures. Throughout the book, Smil chooses to emphasize the complexities and peculiarities of the real world, and the counterintuitive outcomes of many of its processes, over abstract models. Energy in Nature and Society provides a unique, comprehensive, single-volume analysis and reference source on all important energy matters, from natural to industrial energy flows, from fuels to food, from the Earth's formation to possible energy futures, and can serve as a text for courses in energy studies, global ecology, earth systems science, biology, and chemistry.

Shaking the Gates of Hell: Faith-Led Resistance to Corporate Globalization


Sharon Delgado - 2007
    Shaking the Gates of Hell proposes a way for people of faith to respond to the growing power of corporations and their domination of the world's cultures, governments, and global institutions.

Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley


Hans W. Silvester - 2007
    Silvester was essentially adopted by his subjects during his travels, and his stunning color photographs present a rare, intimate view of their world. The first volume of this deluxe two-volume set presents the everyday lives of the Omo people, their rituals, parades, childrens games, and even their battles. In the second volume, each photograph becomes a masterpiece of abstract art, revealing close-ups of the tribes traditional body paintings. Silvesters accompanying text traces his journey to the Horn of Africa, revealing the fascinating beauty of a world now in danger of extinction.

ABCD: When People Care Enough to ACT


Mike Green - 2007
    Enriching each other, the book and the DVD provide clear exposition of ABCD organizing principles and best practices, examples of ABCD organizing in action, learning exercises, worksheets, and reflections from experienced practitioners of ABCD organizing. Main topics include: ABCD Principles & Practice Discovering What People Care About Mobilizing A Community's Assets People & Programs: We Need Both Leading By Stepping Back: The Role Of Governments & Agencies Inclusion: There Is No One We Do Not Need John McKnight's Reflections On ABCD organizing. Lessons from Ashville NC, Marque.e, MI, Laconia, NH, Savannah, GA, Ames, IO."

Children of the Ever-Changing Moon: Essays by Young Moro Writers


Gutierez Mangansakan II - 2007
    The essays herein reflect the writers' struggle with issues of identity, religion, relationships, loss, tradition, and change. Like the thin crescent of the rising moon, the selection reveals different facets of their "Moro-ness."This anthology presents new voices that offer a glimpse into the life of a people whose opinion, history, and circumstance somehow been stifled, giving them an important, distinct place in our national imagination.

Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition


Anthony Kaldellis - 2007
    Through close readings of the sources, Professor Kaldellis surveys the space that Hellenism occupied in each period; the broader debates in which it was caught up; and the historical causes of its successive transformations. The first section (100-400) shows how Romanisation and Christianisation led to the abandonment of Hellenism as a national label and its restriction to a negative religious sense and a positive, albeit rarefied, cultural one. The second (1000-1300) shows how Hellenism was revived in Byzantium and contributed to the evolution of its culture. The discussion looks closely at the reception of the classical tradition, which was the reason why Hellenism was always desirable and dangerous in Christian society, and presents a new model for understanding Byzantine civilisation.

Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation


Susan Williams - 2007
    But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country. His crime? To fall in love and marry a young, white English girl, Ruth Williams. Delving into newly released records, Susan Williams tells Seretse and Ruth's story - a shocking account of how the British Government conspired with apartheid South Africa to prevent the mixed-race royal couple returning home. But it is also an inspiring, triumphant tale of hope, courage and true love as with tenacity and great dignity Seretse and Ruth and the Bangwato people ovecome prejudice in their fight for justice.

Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and the Birth of Fashion Photography


Virginie Chardin - 2007
    As impromptu portraits of beautiful women in inimitable finery at racecourses, resorts, and cafs began to appear in magazines, courant designers such as Chanel, Herms, and Madeleine Vionnet rushed to send their models to posh watering holes to be photographed with the beau monde. The first-ever showcase of 300 rich black and white Seberger images, this luxe collection is a must-have for fashionistas, Francophiles, and vintage clothing enthusiasts. Elegance recalls a bygone era of glamour, and illuminates the candid beginnings of a now highly stylized photographic form.

Nation Branding


Keith Dinnie - 2007
    It clearly explains how the concepts and techniques of branding can be adapted to the context of nations- as opposed to the more usual context of products, services, or companies. Concepts grounded in the brand management literature such as brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, and brand equity, are transposed to the domain of nation branding and supported by country case insights that provide vivid illustrations of nation branding in practice. Nation branding is a means by which more and more nations are attempting to compete on the global stage. Current practice in nation branding is examined and future horizons traced. The book provides: * The first overview of its kind on nation branding* A blend of academic theory and real world practice in an accessible, readable fashion* A clear and detailed adaptation of existing brand theory to the emerging domain of nation branding* An original conceptual framework and models for nation branding* A rich range of international examples and over 20 contributions by leading experts from around the world Country case insights on nation branding strategies currently being utilized by nations such as Japan, Egypt, Brazil, Switzerland, Iceland, and Russia Clearly and coherently structured, the book is an essential introduction to nation branding for both students and policymakers and will be an essential text for those interested in this fast growing area.

The Future of Democracy: Developing the Next Generation of American Citizens


Peter Levine - 2007
    Their participation is important for democracy, for institutions such as schools, and for young people themselves, who are more likely to succeed in life if they are engaged in their communities. In The Future of Democracy, Peter Levine, scholar and practitioner, sounds the alarm: in recent years, young Americans have become dangerously less engaged. They are tolerant, patriotic, and idealistic, and some have invented such novel and impressive forms of civic engagement, as blogs, "buycott" movements, and transnational youth networks. But most lack the skills and opportunities they need to participate in politics or address public problems. Levine's timely manifesto clearly explains the causes, symptoms, and repercussions of this damaging trend, and, most importantly, the means whereby America can confront and reverse it. Levine demonstrates how to change young people's civic attitudes, skills, and knowledge and, equally importantly, to reform our institutions so that civic engagement is rewarding and effective. We must both prepare citizens for politics and improve politics for citizens.

RSS 360: Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh


Ratan Sharda - 2007
    As a senior member who has managed various responsibilities in the RSS over the years, Ratan Sharda has achieved his intent ably in this book.It has long been acknowledged that the best way to know the RSS (or the National Volunteer Organisation) is to join it. Perhaps this is why there is very little literature on how the RSS functions. This vacuum has been skilfully filled by the author through his book, RSS 360º - Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.There is generally a set format for writing about organisations, especially national level ones such as the RSS. Ratan Sharda has not, however, followed the beaten path. The intent behind his book is to lift the allegedveil of secrecy from the organisation. He presents a comprehensive view of the Sangh's philosophy, its workings and its humungous reach through various affiliate organisations across India, in a simple and easy flowing manner.

War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims


Melody Moezzi - 2007
    Their approaches to religion couldn’t be more diverse: from a rapper of Korean and Egyptian descent to a bisexual Sudanese American to a converted white woman from Colorado living in Cairo and wearing the hijab. These individuals, whether they were born to the religion or came to it on their own, have made their own decisions about how observant they’ll be, whether or not to fast, how often to pray, and what to wear. Though each story is unique, each is also seen through the searching eyes of Melody Moezzi, herself an American Muslim of Iranian descent. She finds that the people she interviews are horrified that, in a post-9/11 world, they have seen their religion come to be represented, in the minds of many Americans, by terrorism. These thoughtful and articulate individuals represent the truth about the faith and its adherents who are drawn to the logic, compassion, and tolerance they find in Muslim teachings. Moezzi, ever comfortable with contradiction and nuance, is a likable narrator whose underlying assumption that “faith is greater than dogma” is strengthened as she learns more about her religion and faces her own biases and blind spots. This fresh new voice, combined with the perceptions and experiences of her fellow American Muslims, make for a read that is both illuminating and enjoyable.

Evanescence and Form: An Introduction to Japanese Culture


Charles Shiro Inouye - 2007
    Their lived responses to this idea of impermanence have been various and even contradictory. Asceticism, fatalism, conformism. Hedonism, materialism, careerism. What this array of responses have in common are, first, a grounding in hakanasa, and, second, an emphasis on formality. Evanescence and Etiquette attempts to illuminate for the first time the ties between an epistemology of constant change and Japan's formal emphasis on etiquette and visuality.

Chambers Biographical Dictionary


Camilla Rockwood - 2007
    This eighth edition includes over 600 new entries, and has been extensively updated. Wide-ranging and international in scope, it offers concise, authoritative and illuminating entries on individuals from Alexander the Great to Frank Zappa.

The Book of Mary


Nicola Slee - 2007
    I've taken a long time to come to her--or for her to come to me. I grew up in a religious tradition--low church Methodism--in which Mary hardly featured, other than in the nativity story. Yet it is hardly possible to exist as an inhabitant of the western world, with even half an eye open to the visual and cultural heritage of Christendom, and not to have been in some way affected by this woman, the woman of the Christian tradition."With a collection of prayers and liturgical material focused around the figure of Mary, and the themes of motherhood, sisterhood, and female faith, this book projects a strong, contemporary attitude. It is clearly feminist, affirming the significance of Mary in the faith journey of contemporary Christian (and other) women, plus it challenges and critiques traditional stereotypes of Mary. The author explores the sorrows of Mary, her defiance and resistance, sexuality, sensuality, aloneness, independence and freedom, companionship, sisterhood, friendship, ministry, priesthood, contemplation, prayer and silence, wisdom, authority, faith, risk, and daring.

Traveling Home: Sacred Harp Singing and American Pluralism


Kiri Miller - 2007
    Named after the most popular of the nineteenth-century shape-note tunebooks--which employed an innovative notation system to teach singers to read music--Sacred Harp singing has been part of rural Southern life for more than 150 years. In the wake of the folk revival of the 1950s and '60s, this participatory musical tradition attracted new singers from all over America. All-day "singings" from The Sacred Harp now take place across the country, creating a diverse and far-flung musical community. Meanwhile, the advent of internet discussion boards and increasing circulation of singer-produced recordings have changed the nature of traditional transmission and sharpened debates about Sacred Harp as an "authentic" form of southern musical expression. Blending historical scholarship with wide-ranging fieldwork, Kiri Miller presents an engagingly written study of a musical movement that some have christened "a quintessential expression of American democracy."

If Not God, Then What? Neuroscience, Aesthetics, and the Origins of the Transcendent


Joshua Fost - 2007
    The pleasure of seeing a beautiful face, the thrill of understanding a new idea, the sublimity of art and the power of religious transformation are all, in the end, the result of a brain that wants to make sense of the world. Weaving ideas from brain science and everyday activities - from Sunday cartoons to existentialism - Fost shows how a biological idiosyncrasy motivates them all. But if religious experience is just a special activity pattern in neurons, what should we think about its undeniable and emotionally transformative power? If everything we do is determined by physics, what is the basis for free will, or ethics? Blending receptivity to the glory of spiritual exultation with an insistence on naturalistic foundations, If Not God, Then What? breaks new ground and gives its readers insight into a compelling new worldview."

Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy


Vilfredo Pareto - 2007
    Viewed in its entirety, the outcome is essentially a classic monograph on the fundamental issues in pure economic theory in the Lausanne tradition.Pareto's work forms a document of major historical significance which, to date, has only been available to the relatively small number of international economists and historians of economics who read Italian. This first English language edition is a significant landmark in the history of economics.

The Innocence Commission: Preventing Wrongful Convictions and Restoring the Criminal Justice System


Jon Gould - 2007
    criminal justice system. One of the most visible results is the exoneration of inmates who were wrongly convicted and incarcerated, many of them sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. This has caused a quandary for many states: how can claims of innocence be properly investigated and how can innocent inmates be reliably distinguished from the guilty? In answer, some states have created "innocence commissions" to establish policies and provide legal assistance to the improperly imprisoned.The Innocence Commission describes the creation and first years of the Innocence Commission for Virginia (ICVA), the second innocence commission in the nation and the first to conduct a systematic inquiry into all cases of wrongful conviction. Written by Jon B. Gould, the Chair of the ICVA, who is a professor of justice studies and an attorney, the author focuses on twelve wrongful conviction cases to show how and why wrongful convictions occur, what steps legal and state advocates took to investigate the convictions, how these prisoners were ultimately freed, and what lessons can be learned from their experiences.Gould recounts how a small band of attorneys and other advocates -- in Virginia and around the country -- have fought wrongful convictions in court, advanced the subject of wrongful convictions in the media, and sought to remedy the issue of wrongful convictions in the political arena. He makes a strong case for the need for Innocence Commissions in every state, showing that not only do Innocence Commissions help to identify weaknesses in the criminal justice system and offer workable improvements, but also protect society by helping to ensure that actual perpetrators are expeditiously identified, arrested, and brought to trial. Everyone has an interest in preventing wrongful convictions, from police officers and prosecutors, who seek the latest and best investigative techniques, to taxpayers, who want an efficient criminal justice system, to suspects who are erroneously pursued and sometimes convicted.Free of legal jargon and written for a general audience, The Innocence Commission is instructive, informative, and highly compelling reading.

Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories


Lavaca Collective - 2007
    Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and author of No Logo.Avi Lewis is an author and filmmaker. Klein and Lewis co-produced The Take, a film about Argentina’s occupied factories.

Supremacy and Survival: How Catholics Endured the English Reformation


Stephanie A. Mann - 2007
    Penal laws labeled Catholic believers as traitors and brought fines, imprisonment, and even execution. Prominent persons such as Thomas More, Edmund Campion, and Margaret Clitherow were martyred, while others quietly endured suspicion or harassment to teach and pass on their faith to others, but died peacefully in their beds. The official persecution slowly subsided as threats to England's external power waned in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, intellectual converts such as John Henry Newman and Henry Manning brought the merits of Catholicism a new respect in the eyes of Protestant public opinion. This enabled the unfolding of a wide-ranging apologetic that would fall to 20th century figures such as G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, and Ronald Knox.

In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America


Eddie S. Glaude Jr. - 2007
    Glaude Jr., one of our nation’s rising young African American intellectuals, makes an impassioned plea for black America to address its social problems by recourse to experience and with an eye set on the promise and potential of the future, rather than the fixed ideas and categories of the past. Central to Glaude’s mission is a rehabilitation of philosopher John Dewey, whose ideas, he argues, can be fruitfully applied to a renewal of African American politics. According to Glaude, Dewey’s pragmatism, when attentive to the darker dimensions of life—or what we often speak of as the blues—can address many of the conceptual problems that plague contemporary African American discourse. How blacks think about themselves, how they imagine their own history, and how they conceive of their own actions can be rendered in ways that escape bad ways of thinking that assume a tendentious political unity among African Americans simply because they are black. Drawing deeply on black religious thought and literature, In a Shade of Blue seeks to dislodge such crude and simplistic thinking and replace it with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for black life in all its variety and intricacy. Glaude argues that only when black political leaders acknowledge such complexity can the real-life sufferings of many African Americans be remedied, an argument echoed in the recent rhetoric and optimism of the Barack Obama presidential campaign. In a Shade of Blue is a remarkable work of political commentary and to follow its trajectory is to learn how African Americans arrived at this critical moment in their cultural and political history and to envision where they might head in the twenty-first century. “Eddie Glaude is the towering public intellectual of his generation.”—Cornel West “Eddie Glaude is poised to become the leading intellectual voice of our generation, raising questions that make us reexamine the assumptions we hold by expanding our inventory of ideas.”—Tavis Smiley

What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body and Culture


Edward Slingerland - 2007
    It focuses especially on the excesses of postmodernism, but also acknowledges serious problems with postmodernism's harshest critics. In short, Edward Slingerland argues that in order for the humanities to progress, its scholars need to take seriously contributions from the natural sciences-and particular research on human cognition-which demonstrate that any separation of the mind and the body is entirely untenable. The author provides suggestions for how humanists might begin to utilize these scientific discoveries without conceding that science has the last word on morality, religion, art, and literature. Calling into question such deeply entrenched dogmas as the "blank slate" theory of nature, strong social constructivism, and the ideal of disembodied reason, What Science Offers the Humanities replaces the human-sciences divide with a more integrated approach to the study of culture.

Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics


Patrick Lee - 2007
    It defends the position that human beings are both body and soul, with a fundamental and morally important difference from other animals. It defends the traditional position on the most controversial specific moral and political issues of the day.

Legends of The Grail


Richard Barber - 2007
    

Next to the Color Line: Gender, Sexuality, and W. E. B. Du Bois


Susan GillmanRoderick A. Ferguson - 2007
    E. B. Du Bois did not often pursue the connections between the “Negro question” that defined so much of his intellectual life and the “woman question” that engaged writers and feminist activists around him, Next to the Color Line argues that within Du Bois’s work is a politics of juxtaposition that connects race, gender, sexuality, and justice. This provocative collection investigates a set of political formulations and rhetorical strategies by which Du Bois approached, used, and repressed issues of gender and sexuality. The essays in Next to the Color Line propose a return to Du Bois, not only to reassess his politics but also to demonstrate his relevance for today’s scholarly and political concerns. Contributors: Hazel V. Carby, Yale U; Vilashini Cooppan, U of California, Santa Cruz; Brent Hayes Edwards, Rutgers U; Michele Elam, Stanford U; Roderick A. Ferguson, U of Minnesota; Joy James, Williams College; Fred Moten, U of Southern California; Shawn Michelle Smith, St. Louis U; Mason Stokes, Skidmore College; Claudia Tate, Princeton U; Paul C. Taylor, Temple U. Susan Gillman is professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Alys Eve Weinbaum is associate professor of English at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Restoring Safe School Communities: A Whole School Response to Bullying, Violence and Alienation


Brenda Morrison - 2007
    

The Spirit of Nashville: The Art & Soul Of Music City


Joel Anderson and Angela Patterson - 2007
    Collection of classic poster design about Nashviie and it's history

Sociology of Information


Harold Garfinkel - 2007
    Other prominent theories then being worked out at Princeton, including game theory, neglected the social elements of information, modeling a rational individual whose success depends on completeness of both reason and information. In real life these conditions are not possible and these approaches therefore have always had limited and problematic practical application. Garfinkel s sociological theory treats information as a thoroughly organized social phenomenon in a way that addresses these shortcomings comprehensively. Although famous as a sociologist of everyday life, Garfinkel focuses in this new book never before published on the concerns of large-scale organization and decisionmaking. In the fifty years since Garfinkel wrote this treatise, there has been no systematic treatment of the problems and issues he raises. Nor has anyone proposed a theory of information like the one he proposed. Many of the same problems that troubled theorists of information and predictable order in 1952 are still problematic today.

The Lost Massey Lectures


John Kenneth Galbraith - 2007
    In this extraordinary collection, major thinkers offer passionate polemics on the major issues of the 20th century. Here are King on race and prejudice; Galbraith on economics and poverty; Jacobs on Canadian cities and Quebec separatism; Goodman on the moral ambiguity of America; Brandt on international peace; Kierans on globalism and the nation-state; and much more. Their words not only have considerable historical significance but also remain hugely relevant to the problems we face today. At last, a selection of these “lost” lectures is available to a world so hungry for, and yet in such short supply of, innovative ideas. The Lost Massey Lectures includes an introduction by veteran CBC producer Bernie Lucht.